Television

There’s Only One Character Who Still Justifies Fear the Walking Dead’s Existence

Let me put all my cards on the table: I’ve been a Fear the Walking Dead skeptic since the beginning. I’ve seen every episode of The Walking Dead, and will probably continue watching it until death do us part—but I couldn’t imagine how Fear, which takes place in the same universe as its predecessor, could deliver anything novel enough to justify its existence. It’s still unclear exactly when the two timelines will meet up—but that time’s approaching quickly, and once they do, what will Fear bring to the table?

There is, however, one ray of hope—one truly unique player in this familiar game of gore and rot. And that would be Frank Dillane’s Nick, who has been one of the series’ most charismatic characters since the beginning. More details ahead, but first . . .

A brief refresher: the midseason finale left everyone at a crossroads. The short-lived safe haven that was Celia’s hacienda is no more—because it’s burned to the ground. (Sound familiar?) How did that happen? Daniel started a fire in the basement, where Celia had been keeping the zombified versions of her loved ones. (Again, ring a bell?) Madison, Strand, Alicia, and Ofelia—the last remaining member of her family, now that Daniel’s bitten the dust—pile into the truck and prepare to flee. But Madison wants to wait for Travis, who set out to find his still-estranged and increasingly disturbed son, Chris, and Nick, who set out to find them. Nick fortuitously shows up just in time, and tells Madison that he hasn’t found Travis (which is a lie—Travis found Chris, and wants to stay with him for a while to help him regain his sanity). When Nick sees what has happened, he chooses not to stick with his family—instead walking straight into a horde of undead, covered in viscera, looking very much like one of them.

In the midseason premiere, we cut straight to a sleeping Nick—a callback to the series pilot, which opened much the same way. He finds out that most of Celia’s people have scattered, and quickly sets off on his own with a large bottle of water—which he quickly loses, launching him into some Bear Grylls territory. (Yes, he literally drinks his own pee.) On one hand, he seems existentially at peace with the increasingly apocalyptic state of things; on the other, he’s dying.

Naturally, Nick doesn’t go out like that; a few strangers pick him up. These saviors belong to a previously unseen community—one that, like most in The Walking Dead universe, looks pleasant enough at first, but quickly reveals its darker side. It’s unclear from the first three episodes how, exactly, things will go for Nick—but suffice it to say, this season’s villain could very well be a pharmacist masquerading as a prophet.

And the rest of the family? Well, it’s basically what you’d expect. Madison and Strand are bonding as their quick ride back to the boat with Alicia and Ofelia gets complicated. The boat’s gone, so they seek shelter in a hotel—which, once again, turns out to not be as safe a refuge as it seems. Madison is worried about her son; Alicia is worried about Ofelia; Ofelia is searching for purpose now that her whole family is gone.

Frankly, it’s hard not to identify with Ofelia’s sense of aimlessness: unlike The Walking Dead, which frames itself as a show about good and evil—complete with comic-book-level stakes and big, bad villains it takes entire seasons (sometimes more) to knock down—Fear the Walking Dead feels more like a voyeuristic look at people just sort of . . . surviving. Since the apocalypse isn’t as far along, none of the apocalypse’s big baddies have risen yet. No one really knows what they’re doing.

Consider the last loose ends we have left: Travis, ever the optimist, still seems to think the zombie apocalypse can be ridden out—that someone, somewhere, is fixing everything. By his logic, he and Chris can just hang out in the wilderness and wait until it’s safe to come back out. The problem is that we all know he’s wrong—because we’ve seen The Walking Dead. Chris, on the other hand, is already turning into a ruthless survivalist, with a streak, even, of villainy—something Travis grows increasingly concerned about.

It’s hard to watch all of this play out without remembering similar moments from The Walking Dead—like when Rick & Co. started worrying about Carl turning bad in Season 3. Countless Walking Dead characters have struggled through the same forlorn hopelessness that has struck Ofelia—and so far, the execution in Fear is less empathetic than it has been on The Walking Dead. At least Madison and Alicia’s mother-daughter relationship is refreshing, if only because The Walking Dead has yet to really focus on a mother-daughter pair. The scenery and situations are novel—even inventive and fascinating—but the narrative feels more perfunctory than urgent. And, perhaps more important, the series never dwells on any situation or dilemma for too long. Everything is in constant flux, which prevents the rise of the sort of one-note villains who tend to overstay their welcome on The Walking Dead—but their absence also renders the prequel series shallow.

Then again, Fear must be working well enough for the network; it’s already earned a third season from AMC. And to be fair, there is still one interesting player on this show: Nick. Since the beginning, he’s been the one part of this universe who doesn’t feel like a Muppet Babies version of The Walking Dead. And at this point in the series, he’s tougher to predict than any other surviving character—R.I.P., Unhinged Daniel—and his story arc is easily the most interesting part of this season’s latter half so far. Not coincidentally, Dillane also happens to be the most charismatic actor in this bunch.

Hopefully, the story arcs for the other two splinters of this group will follow Nick’s lead. For now, it’s unclear where Madison, Strand, Alicia, and Ofelia are headed—but there’s promise that it’ll be somewhere interesting. And to be fair, if Chris continues down the path he’s headed—going full-blown ruthless instead of stopping short of the ledge, like Carl did—he and Travis could quickly bring a whole new story to the table. It’s hard to predict what this series is shambling toward—but thanks to Nick and the bizarre community he’s found, and the potential lurking in the other two stories, it’s probably worth sticking around to find out.

Sam Anderson

Sam was a simple-natured boy with a love-hate relationship for Carol (and her cookies) and ended up being one of the biggest burdens in Alexandria, wreaking havoc on Rick and his crew as they maneuvered themselves through a seemingly endless horde of zombies. We can’t blame him for being haunted by Carol’s goose-bump-raising quote about being eaten alive by monsters, which ultimately led to his, Jessie’s, and Ron’s death. Then again, who really thought his fate would fare for the better when the mid-season finale ended with him wailing “Mom?” in a sea of zombies?

Photo: Courtesy of AMC.

Mika and Lizzie Samuels

Mika and Lizzie made for a fascinating pair in Season 4, representing two very different reactions to being born in a time of an every-man-for-himself type of world. Lizzie became convinced the dead could be saved and obsessively glorified their zombification; Mika, on the other hand, accepted the fact that zombies were no longer human. Lizzie became even more delusional and killed Mika to “save” her by turning her into a walker, leading to the saddest scene of the season, where Carol shoots Lizzie as she repeats, “Just look at the flowers.”

Photo: Courtesy of AMC.

Carl Grimes

Carl losing his eye in the recent mid-season premiere was an expected blow for comic-book fans but a heartrending loss nonetheless, especially since this is the second time he’s been on the brink of death
since being accidentally shot by a deer hunter near Hershel’s farm. Perhaps Glenn’s unbreakable survival skills are rubbing off on him? Immortal Carl, we root for you.

Photo: Courtesy of AMC.

Sophia Peletier

Sophia reached her end in Season 2 when she’s discovered as a walker in a barn on Hershel’s farm after getting lost from the rest of the group. While many were rooting for her safe return, even Carol refused to accept Sophia’s walker form, saying, “That’s not my little girl. It’s some other . . . thing. My Sophia was lost in the woods. All this time, I thought. But she didn’t go hungry. She didn’t cry herself to sleep. She didn’t try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago.”

Photo: Courtesy of AMC.

Enid

From the start of the season, Enid seems to be the most displaced Alexandrian, often escaping Alexandria as she normalizes the outskirts of the zombie-filled forest more than the safe bubble removed from the dead. She loses her parents from the start and guards herself from warming up to people in fear of losing them. She also has to eat a turtle after losing Mom and Dad. Need we say more?

Photo: Courtesy of AMC.

Beth Greene

Beth was one of the more polarizing characters on The Walking Dead and her unexpected death at the hands Officer Dawn hit us all harder than we could’ve imagined, since she gradually became the more stronger-willed and good-natured sources of joy within Rick’s group. Though she was more of a tween than a child when she appeared in Season 2, it would be remiss not to include the youngest one of Rick’s group, who unfortunately witnessed the death of her mother, brother, and father, Hershel, and ends up risking her own life by standing up to Officer Dawn to save her friend Noah.

Photo: Courtesy of AMC.

Maggie and Glenn’s soon-to-be child

Like Judith, little is known about the future for Maggie and Glenn’s child, but it seems safe to assume Maggie’s not necessarily expecting rainbows and butterflies in her baby’s future.

Photo: Courtesy of AMC.

Sam Anderson

Sam was a simple-natured boy with a love-hate relationship for Carol (and her cookies) and ended up being one of the biggest burdens in Alexandria, wreaking havoc on Rick and his crew as they maneuvered themselves through a seemingly endless horde of zombies. We can’t blame him for being haunted by Carol’s goose-bump-raising quote about being eaten alive by monsters, which ultimately led to his, Jessie’s, and Ron’s death. Then again, who really thought his fate would fare for the better when the mid-season finale ended with him wailing “Mom?” in a sea of zombies?

Courtesy of AMC.

Mika and Lizzie Samuels

Mika and Lizzie made for a fascinating pair in Season 4, representing two very different reactions to being born in a time of an every-man-for-himself type of world. Lizzie became convinced the dead could be saved and obsessively glorified their zombification; Mika, on the other hand, accepted the fact that zombies were no longer human. Lizzie became even more delusional and killed Mika to “save” her by turning her into a walker, leading to the saddest scene of the season, where Carol shoots Lizzie as she repeats, “Just look at the flowers.”

Courtesy of AMC.

Carl Grimes

Carl losing his eye in the recent mid-season premiere was an expected blow for comic-book fans but a heartrending loss nonetheless, especially since this is the second time he’s been on the brink of death
since being accidentally shot by a deer hunter near Hershel’s farm. Perhaps Glenn’s unbreakable survival skills are rubbing off on him? Immortal Carl, we root for you.

Courtesy of AMC.

Sophia Peletier

Sophia reached her end in Season 2 when she’s discovered as a walker in a barn on Hershel’s farm after getting lost from the rest of the group. While many were rooting for her safe return, even Carol refused to accept Sophia’s walker form, saying, “That’s not my little girl. It’s some other . . . thing. My Sophia was lost in the woods. All this time, I thought. But she didn’t go hungry. She didn’t cry herself to sleep. She didn’t try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago.”

Courtesy of AMC.

Penny Blake

Penny died long ago but was kept and fed as her reanimated self by the Governor, who was convinced there was an ounce of her that still lived. We only include her because, man oh man, this is some sick and twisted father-daughter bonding.

Courtesy of AMC.

Ron Anderson

Ron was the moodier sibling of the Anderson bunch (the Urban Outfitters beanie spoke volumes) with just about 1,800 licenses to kill after witnessing the death of his entire family at the hands of Rick, Carl, and some zombies. Although Carl forgave Ron for attempting to kill him in an earlier episode for the death of his father, Ron struck immediately when Rick cut off his mother’s arm to free Carl from the crowd of walkers, and he attempted to shoot Rick but ended up shooting Carl in the face. Attempt to kill me once, shame on you. Twice? No, thank you.

Courtesy of AMC.

Summer

Although Summer’s relatively a nobody in comparison to all of the other T.W.D. children since she appears for a brief moment in Season 1, she’s the first walker Rick encounters and one of the strangest-behaving walkers at that. Summer picks up a teddy bear, as if she has not been reanimated, fooling Rick into thinking she’s a human. Zombie children: they like teddy bears, too.

Courtesy of AMC.

Judith Grimes

Lori lost her life giving birth to Judith, a.k.a. the worst way to come into this world. Though we don’t know the exact plans that come for Judith in the near future, we do know that she might just be the best-behaving baby of all time (what kind of baby doesn’t utter a single peep under a sheet of walker guts?). Fingers crossed for you, Judith.

Courtesy of AMC.

Enid

From the start of the season, Enid seems to be the most displaced Alexandrian, often escaping Alexandria as she normalizes the outskirts of the zombie-filled forest more than the safe bubble removed from the dead. She loses her parents from the start and guards herself from warming up to people in fear of losing them. She also has to eat a turtle after losing Mom and Dad. Need we say more?

Courtesy of AMC.

Beth Greene

Beth was one of the more polarizing characters on The Walking Dead and her unexpected death at the hands Officer Dawn hit us all harder than we could’ve imagined, since she gradually became the more stronger-willed and good-natured sources of joy within Rick’s group. Though she was more of a tween than a child when she appeared in Season 2, it would be remiss not to include the youngest one of Rick’s group, who unfortunately witnessed the death of her mother, brother, and father, Hershel, and ends up risking her own life by standing up to Officer Dawn to save her friend Noah.

Courtesy of AMC.

Maggie and Glenn’s soon-to-be child

Like Judith, little is known about the future for Maggie and Glenn’s child, but it seems safe to assume Maggie’s not necessarily expecting rainbows and butterflies in her baby’s future.